Tipton OK, Tornado

Photo Courtesy of NSSL

Tipton OK, 20 May 1977, looking N. The F3 Tipton tornado was a massive vortex wrapped in rain, part of an HP (heavy precipitation) supercell updraft. Occasionally, one edge of the condensation funnel would become visible; but most of the time, it was enshrouded in a furiously rotating veil of rain curtains. Luckily, the photographer caught a power flash in the tornado which helped to reveal its whereabouts within the murk.